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Top 10 things you need to know before buying a new or used BMW

526K views 225 replies 180 participants last post by  Zoeston 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Here are the top 10 things that anyone considering a new or used BMW should know. I'm going to make this a sticky - feel free to add on to it!

  1. Most newer BMWs require synthetic oil and premium fuel. Do not give your car less than it requires.
  2. Contrary to popular belief, parts and labor on BMWs is not more than the competition; however, BMWs are not as reliable as Japanese cars and they do require more maintenance.
  3. If your car is out of warranty, find yourself a competent independent mechanic. Their labor rates tend to be about half that of dealers. http://www.bimrs.org/ lists such shops.
  4. Buy a Bentley repair manual for you car. Even if you don't work on your car yourself, it's good to be an informed consumer (example: if your check engine light illuminates, Autozone will plug into your car for free and give you the car's trouble code. You can cross-reference it in the Bentley manual to see what's wrong).
  5. Historically, manual transmissions are more reliable that automatic or steptronic transmissions.
  6. BMWs have great brakes - this is due in part to the rather soft pads and rotors they use. Don't expect them to last more than 30-50k miles. The rotors generally wear at the same rate as the pads so 'machining' the rotors OR replacing pads without rotors is not recommended. There is a 'brake pad low' warning light that is triggered by a wear sensor that will illuminate on your dash when you are due for new brakes. It looks like this:
    . When you replace your brakes, you also need to replace the wear sensors ($10-20 each). There's one on the front left wheel and one on the rear right wheel. Parts for all 4 rotors, pads, and sensors are generally $200-500 and labor is about the same.
  7. The 'sport package' available on most BMWs is usually considered a necessary option by enthusiasts. It usually includes better (bolstered) seats, stiffer suspension (better handling), as well as larger wheels and tires. One caveat: It also comes with summer only tires that are NOT suitable for ANY slushy/snowy/icy conditions. If you live in an area that gets snow, it's highly recommended that you buy a second set of wheels with dedicated snow tires.
  8. It's fairly common for OEM tires to only last 10-20k miles. Price out replacements on www.TireRack.com to prevent being shocked: It can cost $600-1500 for replacement rubber. Also remember that tires are the #1 performance mod available to you! There's a significant difference between cheap all-season tires and good summer-only tires. Ask any questions in the Tires, Wheels, and Brakes forum.
  9. BMW engines are tuned very well from the factory. It's very difficult to get more than a few horsepower out of intakes, exhausts, chips, headers, etc. (the newer the car, the more true this is)....unless, of course, you're talking about the N54 twin-turbo (335i, 535i, etc), in which case, completely disregard what I just said!
  10. The BMW Car Club of America (BMW CCA) is a great organization- membership ($48/yr) entitles you to a free subscription to the monthly magazine Roundel, discounts on parts at most BMW dealers, high performance driving schools/car control clinics/autocrosses, local gatherings/rallys/dinners, as well as a $500-1500 discount on your next new or CPO BMW (you must be a member for at least a year prior to purchase - and this transaction is completely independent of the dealer - you receive a rebate check after purchasing the car for at your dealer-negotiated price). Join here and if you found this post useful, use me as your referrer (Kris Linquist #170334)
 
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#7 ·
I am considering getting a 328i. The car has no engine temperature gauge and oil dipstick. Is this a serious issue?
Well, they're both just electronic. Coolant temp is actually electronic on most cars these days - it's simply displayed with a typical gauge needle. You can go into the menu on the 328i and see the oil level. I suppose the sensor could fail, but the car will likely throw a code to let you know.
 
#8 ·
[*]BMW engines are tuned very well from the factory. It's very difficult to get more than a few horsepower out of intakes, exhausts, chips, headers, etc. (the newer the car, the more true this is).
Nice list KrisL, but I would modify item #9 to read: "BMW engines are tuned very well from the factory. It's very difficult to get more than a few horsepower out of intakes, exhausts, chips, headers, etc. (the newer the car, the more true this is). Unless, of course, you're talking about the N54 twin-turbo, in which case, completely disregard what I just said! :rofl:
 
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#14 ·
Something's wrong with my brakes. My car has nearly 70K miles, and the wear indicator has not illuminated yet.
 
#125 ·
Congratulations. You're probably a very good "strategic" driver, looking ahead and anticipating slow-downs. I generally get about 60-70K out of my brakes, but I think that's rare among BMW (or most other) drivers, from what I've seen on the roads (brake lights every few seconds, even in fairly steady 60-70 mph commuter traffic)
.
 
#17 ·
Doors on new 3 Series very vulnerable to dents

While the deisgn of the new 3 Series in beautiful, the new design is very vulnerable to parking lot dings. This is espcially true due to the raised cornice metal cornice that runs the length of the vehicle. Unlike the 2005 and older models, there is no guard strip to prevent door dings and the cornice takes full impact of a parking lot door ding. I recently has $800 worth of damage done to the drivers door in a parking lot. What I recommend is a product called Door Defenders. I found these on the net. They are long, tubular cushions that attach magnetically to the car and protect the doors. I bought a pair and intend to use them to prevent another such mishap. You can find them on the Internet.
 
#18 ·
While the deisgn of the new 3 Series in beautiful, the new design is very vulnerable to parking lot dings. This is espcially true due to the raised cornice metal cornice that runs the length of the vehicle. Unlike the 2005 and older models, there is no guard strip to prevent door dings and the cornice takes full impact of a parking lot door ding. I recently has $800 worth of damage done to the drivers door in a parking lot. What I recommend is a product called Door Defenders. I found these on the net. They are long, tubular cushions that attach magnetically to the car and protect the doors. I bought a pair and intend to use them to prevent another such mishap. You can find them on the Internet.
Thanks.. I have been looking at the very beautiful 335ix coupe and was somewhat concerned at its vunerability.

I'll look into the door defender product.

Great information on many aspects of BMW ownership at this site.

JB
 
#20 ·
Im 17 years old and i just bought my first BMW, and i HATE it!dont get me wrong, the car is great, its that bmw addiction ive had ever since i got it is what makes me mad.lol.I LOVE EM!

anyways, i have a couple of Q's so heres the deal.
i just bought an 83' 320i for $800 off of my buddies dad.its a manual.the inside is in PERFECT condition, the outside has a few rust spots but nothing a little bondo and new paint job cant fix :). and it has about 130,000 on it.BUT! the first owner was a little old lady who put on about 90% of the miles and garage kept it.the second and third owner bought it to restore but it ended up just sitting there.

so now that i have it, being the 17 yr old i am with big dreams and little income, i wanna know if its worth droping money into.i looked everything up, and from new rims and lowering springs to a decked out inside it will be around 2000 bucks.i know its a stupid question but, is it worth it?
 
#21 ·
is it worth it?
First of all, cars themselves are never "worth it" - they're depreciating assets. Not only that, but mods usually decrease resale before they increase it. Will you get $800 of enjoyment out of it in its current state?

Do you think you'd get $2800 of enjoyment out of the car in the modded state? ...or perhaps you'd get more enjoyment out of a newer (87+) 325i (a BMW that could be purchased for around $2800)...

Just some things to think about..

Any car I personally bought for $800 I'd just drive it until it didn't drive any more :).
 
#22 ·
I don't know if is the right place for this, but bullet point number two above has me thinking. I'm currently considering a 2008 328i. At this time, I'd rather buy than lease, both because my payments would be much lower (I'd be putting down a substantial down payment) and because I've always purchased cars. The car I'm looking at will have 6 MT, SP, leather and Xenon lights, and that's it.

Is buying a BMW outright a bad idea? Are they really that unreliable?

The fact is I love this car and have coveted Bimmers for years, but a $4-500 lease pymnt is more than I want to take on at this point.

Any input would greatly appreciated.
 
#47 ·
I don't know if is the right place for this, but bullet point number two above has me thinking. I'm currently considering a 2008 328i. At this time, I'd rather buy than lease, both because my payments would be much lower (I'd be putting down a substantial down payment) and because I've always purchased cars. The car I'm looking at will have 6 MT, SP, leather and Xenon lights, and that's it.

Is buying a BMW outright a bad idea? Are they really that unreliable?

The fact is I love this car and have coveted Bimmers for years, but a $4-500 lease pymnt is more than I want to take on at this point.

Any input would greatly appreciated.
Absoluely not, I bought my 328i outright last year and plan on keeping it for at least 5 years. My first BMW was CPO 2002 325ci manual which I put 50k in 18 months. The car was faultless and while I had some isssues with the trim around the windows, mechanically it proved reliable I traded it in with 90k to buy my 328i. I was always keen on european cars but have had terrible experiences with some of them, e.g 2 VW Golfs, Fiat Tipo, Fiat Panda, and numerous Ford Escorts. While the Japanesse no doubt make very reliable and durable cars, they can't match the complete satifaction of owning the Benchmark for spo:)rts sedans and coupes.
Go buy your BMW and enjoy years of troublefree motoring backed up by one of the best maintance plans in the business.
 
#25 ·
Great Post!
I'm new to the forum. I feel like I made a HUGE mistake. I just ordered a 328i - montago/saddle bag/step/premium/cold weather and in an effort to save a few dollars, I opted out of the sport package. I know it is only a G, but I didn't want to have to get a second set of tires and swap them out every season.

Did I just 'F' the car up before I even got it?
 
#28 ·
Great Post!
I'm new to the forum. I feel like I made a HUGE mistake. I just ordered a 328i - montago/saddle bag/step/premium/cold weather and in an effort to save a few dollars, I opted out of the sport package. I know it is only a G, but I didn't want to have to get a second set of tires and swap them out every season.

Did I just 'F' the car up before I even got it?
No.
 
#30 ·
Another thing to make sure of especially with a cpo vehicle is to make sure that if it was an EU registered vehicle that it is registered with BMWNA. Well that is if you plan on using it in North America. If you are purchasing your vehicle overseas and shipping it to North America make sure that the vehicle has been re registered as a BMWNA vehicle. Otherwise your BMW center may not be able to find your warranty information.
 
#33 ·
I wish I read this last year... the rebate is an awesome deal.

regarding independent BMW shops, well, I heard that the one near us isn't that great, due to the presence of too many rich Microsoft employees...
 
#34 ·
I think you need to double check your independent's labor rate. The dealership I work for has a labor rate of $115/hour. I checked three local independents, and they were $80-$90 per hour, not half the dealer rate! Also, only 1 advertised loaner cars, the others offered to drive you to the local car rental office.
 
#36 ·
Re: Top 10 tips

I shoulda come here BEFORE buying my 2001 330Ci convertible! But it's never too late to learn. A couple of proviso's:

1. I'm not an expert but my impression is that this is mainly mythology: that is, good quality natural petroleum oil will do no damage if it is replaced every 3-5k miles. Because BMW takes responsibility for this during the early life of the car, they don't want you in their shop more often than necessary, and the cost of premium oil is more than compensated by the extended service interval (>15000 miles; you can find the method for resetting the interval tracker in the wiki here). As for gasoline, I don't believe one needs to use higher octane than it takes to prevent "pinging" with a high load at low RPM. Please explain if there are other factors to be considered here, such as additive effects on seals or some such. A rule without a reason is my definition of "mythology".
6. Brakes: it's worth mentioning that the soft stock brake pads (which cause weekly soiling of our fancy wheels) can be replaced with other materials that don't shed so much dust but may not be as responsive. Anyone have experience with this?
7. The wide rims and low profile tires (some call them "rubber band tires") are prone to pothole damage, especially if underinflated. My car came with the lumpiest wheels I ever felt and I had to replace all four of them to get it to smooth out and satisfy my fantasy of what a bimmer should feel like.

The tips about independent mechanics, manuals, and CCA are just wonderful! Thanks so much for this.

Tom Moore
Crofton MD
 
#37 ·
I shoulda come here BEFORE buying my 2001 330Ci convertible! But it's never too late to learn. A couple of proviso's:

1. I'm not an expert but my impression is that this is mainly mythology: that is, good quality natural petroleum oil will do no damage if it is replaced every 3-5k miles. Because BMW takes responsibility for this during the early life of the car, they don't want you in their shop more often than necessary, and the cost of premium oil is more than compensated by the extended service interval (>15000 miles; you can find the method for resetting the interval tracker in the wiki here). As for gasoline, I don't believe one needs to use higher octane than it takes to prevent "pinging" with a high load at low RPM. Please explain if there are other factors to be considered here, such as additive effects on seals or some such. A rule without a reason is my definition of "mythology".
6. Brakes: it's worth mentioning that the soft stock brake pads (which cause weekly soiling of our fancy wheels) can be replaced with other materials that don't shed so much dust but may not be as responsive. Anyone have experience with this?
7. The wide rims and low profile tires (some call them "rubber band tires") are prone to pothole damage, especially if underinflated. My car came with the lumpiest wheels I ever felt and I had to replace all four of them to get it to smooth out and satisfy my fantasy of what a bimmer should feel like.

The tips about independent mechanics, manuals, and CCA are just wonderful! Thanks so much for this.

Tom Moore
Crofton MD
Some comments:
1) re: fuel: You won't hear your BMW ping. The knock sensor will retard the timing well before you'll even hear anything. You'll get worse gas mileage and less power on 87 or 89 octane, offsetting the cost premium of premium fuel.
6) Axxis deluxe pads are nearly dustless; however, you lose a LOT of brake feel.
7) I run 38psi all around.
 
#41 ·
Dont Forget to tell new BMW shoppers that your BMW can catch fire!

I recently experienced my BMW 540i catching on fire due to a faulty or should I say defective electro mecanical thermostat which has caused a fire and now damaged about $4,000.00 in repairs. Neither BMW or my insurance company will pay for any of this damage and BMW knows of this problem happening on other BMW's and last week I was called by the US DOT (Department of Transportation) who is investigating this incident and others like it.

Let's be honest folks, we need to tell everyone out there looking to buy a BMW to air on caution. We need to get BMW to fix this poor design so it will stop burning our BMW's and future buyers. I have been told this has occured on other BMW's but BMW seems to be passing the buck on the buyer (me and others) to pay for all the damages caused by this faulty part.

I am hoping BMW takes notice and reads this so that I can get my car fixed. It was on fire Dec 11th and been sitting in the back of a BMW dealer ever since.
Ken
 
#42 ·
I recently experienced my BMW 540i catching on fire due to a faulty or should I say defective electro mecanical thermostat which has caused a fire and now damaged about $4,000.00 in repairs. Neither BMW or my insurance company will pay for any of this damage and BMW knows of this problem happening on other BMW's and last week I was called by the US DOT (Department of Transportation) who is investigating this incident and others like it.

Let's be honest folks, we need to tell everyone out there looking to buy a BMW to air on caution. We need to get BMW to fix this poor design so it will stop burning our BMW's and future buyers. I have been told this has occured on other BMW's but BMW seems to be passing the buck on the buyer (me and others) to pay for all the damages caused by this faulty part.

I am hoping BMW takes notice and reads this so that I can get my car fixed. It was on fire Dec 11th and been sitting in the back of a BMW dealer ever since.
Ken
Any car can catch fire.

It's a bummer that your car caught fire, but I have not seen any pattern of others here on the forum reporting the same. Sounds like an isolated and very rare incident.
 
#43 ·
RE: Johnny420 Lease vs. buy --
You need to decide if you plan to keep the car longer than 3 years (36 mos is kind of the "sweet spot" on leasing). If you think that you might want to be on to a different model BMW after 3 years (135, 335?) then use SOME of that "substantial down payment" money for "capitalized cost reduction" on the lease. You'll pay less interest over the term of the lease, and you can then get your lease payment where you're comfortable with it. Leasing offers financial protection to the consumer in many ways vs. retail purchase -- for instance, you know the car's value at lease-end the day you sign the lease. You can buy it for that at the end, sell it for more than that and keep the difference between what you sell it for and the residual on the lease that you owe BMWFS (just like selling a car with a loan on it), or you can turn it in and get your next dream-Bimmer. AND, if the car is damaged in an accident during the lease and its market value takes a big hit $$$$, you're not affected as long as the damage is repaired by your insurance company before lease-end and the car is returned without current damage. The residual is what it is. On any high-dollar car, a PROPERLY CONSTRUCTED lease is the way to go. Most BMW Centers are doing the majority of their new-car sales business as leases, not retail purchases. Just make sure you get the right amount of miles up front (don't get into a 10K mile per year lease just because it makes the payment lower if you drive 12 or 15K!!!), and buy tire and wheel protection if you've got a sports package - trust me. If you're driving 20K miles a year or more, then retail purchase will be a better option than a lease unless the lease is on an employer's nickle. Hope this helps. A good client advisor up your way should be able to help you understand the leasing option, and make sure it's done in a way appropriate to your particular situation.
Regards, Diane
 
#44 ·
RE: Johnny420 Lease vs. buy --
You need to decide if you plan to keep the car longer than 3 years (36 mos is kind of the "sweet spot" on leasing). If you think that you might want to be on to a different model BMW after 3 years (135, 335?) then use SOME of that "substantial down payment" money for "capitalized cost reduction" on the lease. You'll pay less interest over the term of the lease, and you can then get your lease payment where you're comfortable with it. Leasing offers financial protection to the consumer in many ways vs. retail purchase -- for instance, you know the car's value at lease-end the day you sign the lease. You can buy it for that at the end, sell it for more than that and keep the difference between what you sell it for and the residual on the lease that you owe BMWFS (just like selling a car with a loan on it), or you can turn it in and get your next dream-Bimmer. AND, if the car is damaged in an accident during the lease and its market value takes a big hit $$$$, you're not affected as long as the damage is repaired by your insurance company before lease-end and the car is returned without current damage. The residual is what it is. On any high-dollar car, a PROPERLY CONSTRUCTED lease is the way to go. Most BMW Centers are doing the majority of their new-car sales business as leases, not retail purchases. Just make sure you get the right amount of miles up front (don't get into a 10K mile per year lease just because it makes the payment lower if you drive 12 or 15K!!!), and buy tire and wheel protection if you've got a sports package - trust me. If you're driving 20K miles a year or more, then retail purchase will be a better option than a lease unless the lease is on an employer's nickle. Hope this helps. A good client advisor up your way should be able to help you understand the leasing option, and make sure it's done in a way appropriate to your particular situation.
Regards, Diane
Diane, good post, but surely you know better than to put any money down on a lease. If the car is totaled, as you mentioned, all cap cost reduction is flushed down the toilet. Better to take any cap cost reduction money you have and put it in a savings account and take it out to reduce monthly payments than to risk it all up-front, IMO.
 
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